Mercury Music: Your Friday playlist with... Anna Southwell

Imagine being stranded on Flat Holm Island with only 10 tracks for company. It’s our Mercury version of Desert Island Discs, and this week we have invited Anna Southwell who runs Loves Café in Weston-super-Mare’s West Street to join in. She shared a deeply personal selection of her top 10 songs.

Anna told the Mercury she takes her music ‘very seriously’ and took time to consider her top 10. This is what she chose:

Gomez – See The World

Ben, the singer from Gomez, plays at Loves now and again. One night along with a couple of friends we stayed after the show and shared a bottle of Patron XO tequila. Ben got his guitar out and played this song, which is my favourite Gomez song. It was so special, we were sat in candlelight and he played it acoustically. Another friend recorded it on his iphone to capture the moment and sent me the video the next morning, unfortunately on the recording I was singing along so enthusiastically with a tequila voice you couldn’t hear Ben at all!

Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet

My dad was a huge influence on my love of music as i was growing up. He loved rock ‘n’ roll. I lost him to cancer when I was 12, and in his last months he started listening to Dire Straits. This is my favourite Dire Straits track. I love its take on the Shakespeare classic too.

Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel

I had a friend called Tanja who battled with breast cancer and died in her 30s. She was a musician from America, and this was her signature song at gigs. Whenever I hear it played now it feels like she’s in the room.

Ryan Adams – My Winding Wheel

A couple of years ago I managed to talk my hero, Ethan Johns, into coming to Loves and doing a gig. One of my close friends Adam Lipinski opened for him. Adam finished his set with this song, and Ethan Johns got up unannounced and joined Adam for this song. It was special because Ethan had worked on the original version with Ryan Adams. Quite a moment.

Blur – Out Of Time

Blur was the first band I ever saw live. I watched them six times as a teenager, developing my love of live music. This is my favourite Blur track.

Sufjan Stevens – Jacksonville

I hadn’t really listened to Sufjan Stevens until he headlined EOTR Festival in 2015. It was the best live show I’d ever been to. He blew me and the whole audience away. When I first met Josh, (my boyfriend) he always used to secretly add a song to my Spotify daily playlist when he left, like musical gift. And this is the first tune he added. Mutual appreciation!

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army

Jack White is an incredible musician, and the white stripes are my favourite band. This song is important because it made good and cool music accessible to the masses.

Massive Attack – Unfinished Symphony

This was the first record I owned as a 12” vinyl and it opened my ears up to a whole new world of music. I still love massive attack now, and really respect how politically motivated their public voice is.

Puccini, sung by Andrea Bocelli – Nessum Dorma

My Mum Loves Andrea Bocelli, and Opera, and we sometimes go together, and this song will always make me think of that. It’s a true classic.

The War On Drugs – Eyes To The Wind

I love Iceland. I try to go there annually to horse ride. It’s my favourite thing to do. To get to the farm I stay on is a six-hour bus journey, and the first time I made the trip I exclusively listened to this album, and this is my favourite track. Whenever I play it now it takes me back to my happy place.